Page 39 of The Boss I Can't Stand
“Good idea,” I muttered, getting to my feet. “Sierra, a word?” I inclined my head, and she followed me down the hall to my office. I closed the door and turned to her. She had her arms crossed, her mouth set in a firm line. “We need to improve that for next time. And you need to stop acting like I’m holding you hostage. You fumbled over every question.”
“Well, maybe I wouldn’t be so weirded out if you’d cut it out with the weird Prince Charming act.”
“Finn ‘The Face’ Lockhart is the public persona I’ve crafted for more than a decade. It’s who I’ve always been since becoming the spokesperson for Nexus Media and Hart of Gold. That’s who the tabloids expect to see. It’s who theywantto see.”
“Finn ‘The Face’?” She frowned, clearly baffled. “Why would they want to see that? What’s wrong with the regular version of you?”
Her words startled me.
“I’ve gotta get to work,” Sierra said, rubbing her face with both hands. “Can we figure this out later?”
“Fine,” I conceded, watching her slip out the door. I was still processing the idea that she might actually like the real version of me—the grumpy jerk who got on her case about her work all the time.
Why would anyone like that guy? Oh, sure, he could be useful when a situation called for an asshole, but the whole reason I’d come up with “The Face” was so I could charm people when I needed to. The real me wasn’t appealing…except, apparently, to Sierra Banks.
By the time “later” rolled around, we were on set filming a scene with our leads. It was a fairly simple establishing shot with Tommy and Evelyn walking the streets of Boston late at night, following their second trip to the Mafia speakeasy. Sierra stood off to the side of the soundstage, waiting to make minor adjustments to Shaw’s dress in between takes. I’d been trying to talk to her for the last half hour, but unfortunately my mother was monopolizing her attention, and my phone wouldn’t stop ringing.
“What now?” I barked out, answering Brenna’s call.
“Set design just sent over their new renderings for the interior of the Chisholm house,” she said. “They need your okay.”
“I already forwarded them my thoughts,” I said, glancing over as I heard Sierra smother a laugh. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Mom had never really met any of my girlfriends since way back in high school—and even then, I’d always kept the interactions limited.
Controlled.
But there was no controlling Sierra, who seemed to have decided she needed to be my mom’s new best friend. “Something was off about the color palette,” I told Brenna, re-focusing. “Can you find our original meeting notes and send them to set design to make sure they’re on track with the vision?”
“Yep, I’ll get them the notes before lunch.”
“Good. We need approval from the art department by the end of the day so they can start set dressing tomorrow. I also saw the weatherforecast for tomorrow, and it might be an issue for us with the location shoot. Get the location manager on the phone and see if we can fit it into the schedule next week instead.”
“Okay, I’ll keep you posted on the availability,” Brenna said, hanging up.
I slipped my phone into my pocket and walked over to the director’s monitor to watch the captured footage in real-time.
“Cut!” X called. “Let’s reset. Kaiden, throw your arm over her shoulder and tug her closer next time.”
The cast and crew reset the shot while my eyes darted over to Sierra.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” X called suddenly. “Watch that cord!”
I turned my head just in time to see Kaiden trip over an extension cord that had been dragged across the set. He tumbled over the fake concrete stoop at the front of the soundstage, careening into a crew member who knocked over one of the key lights.
Everything happened in slow motion. I watched the light sway, unbalanced, tipping onto two legs, right toward where Sierra was standing. Where was the damn lighting tech? I wanted to shout the question at the top of my lungs, but there wasn’t time. I was already running, snagging Sierra by her oversized cardigan and hauling her out of the way.
Smash!
The light hit the ground and shattered into a million pieces.
Thud!
I hit the ground next.
Oof!
Sierra hit me, my body cushioning her fall, taking the brunt of the impact as my arms locked around her.
I blinked up at her, catching my breath. Her eyes were wide, looking down at me, the shock written into the perfect, frozenOon her lips. All around us, fake snow drifted off the soundstage.
